I recently bought an electric guitar and hard shell case. When I'm home is it OK to keep the guitar outside of the case? We have a thermostat that controls the humidity and temperature in the house. I don't intend to be traveling much. Thank you.
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If your frets start cutting into your hand while you play, it likely means your fretboard is drying out and shrinking. If that happen, a few days back in the case with a sound hole humidifier should sort it out. Otherwise Matthew is spot on.– Todd WilcoxMay 6, 2016 at 2:19
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@ToddWilcox - would a sound hole humidifier work on the OP's electric guitar?– TimMay 6, 2016 at 6:41
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@Tim Yes but obviously you don't try to put it in the nonexistent sound hole. You either put it in the area inside the case around the head stock or somewhere like that. If it's a gig bag, you just throw it in to the main compartment. Just to raise the humidity around the fingerboard so it swells back to normal size. Almost all other parts of almost all electric guitars are virtually insensitive to humidity.– Todd WilcoxMay 6, 2016 at 12:11
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@ToddWilcox - thanks, never come across these. Maybe in England they're not a necessity. Don't have that problem with pianos here, either.– TimMay 6, 2016 at 12:15
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3 Answers
No, if humidity and temperature are kept with in a decent range then there's no reason to keep it in the case. The only reasons I can think of would be to prevent dust from gathering if you're not playing it much, or maybe to keep it away from kids/pets/guests. I keep some of my guitars out on stands and they're still in great shape after around a decade so far.
No, certainly not. There's no need to keep the guitar in a hard case everytime. You can even keep your guitar on a guitar stand, since it is easily accessible rather than opening up the hard case everytime.
Factors affecting:
It is generally accepted that the air humidity should be neither too high nor too low and the temperature of the area should be about 65-75 °F. Since, changes in the moisture and temperature can cause permanent warping of the neck and other critical parts. If the humidity stays way too low, then the wood will crack and the structure will weaken.
Though, keeping the guitar in a case away from direct sunlight can help with increasing the life of the guitar.
Top-Notch Guitar:
10 Things To Keep Your Guitar In Top Condition
No problem.
I have hard cases for all my guitars, but the one I use most frequently lives in a soft-sided case because it's easier to move to gigs etc.; it goes into the hard case only if it's traveling separately from me - in an aircraft hold or a tour trailer, for example. This particular guitar isn't affected by humidity, so no worries there.
